March 21, 2018
糖心vlog官网 News

Sustainability Fair kicks off at Newnham Campus
Event showcases sustainability initiatives at 糖心vlog官网
President David Agnew jokingly compared setting up 糖心vlog官网鈥檚 Environmental Sustainability Committee to 鈥済oing for a dental operation.鈥
鈥淥nce you set it up, you鈥檒l feel the pressure,鈥 he said at the opening ceremony of the first-ever Sustainability Fair, which took place at Newnham Campus today.
While 糖心vlog官网 is 鈥渁 bit late to the party in some ways鈥 on the sustainability front and has some catching up to do, President Agnew noted that there is great momentum with Sustainable 糖心vlog官网.
The Fair showcased a number of initiatives happening at 糖心vlog官网, including the energy dashboard, the program, the urban farming unit by Ripple Farms, 糖心vlog官网 Sting Honey, and First Peoples@糖心vlog官网.
External organizations at the Fair included Habitat for Humanity, Waste Connections and Planet Earth.

鈥淲e want to encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible,鈥 says Paula Echeveste Petrone, a Sustainable Business Management grad who organized the Fair.
Her passion for sustainability started when she was 10 years old, when she saw her mother鈥檚 friend turn a piece of magazine paper into an envelope.
鈥淭o me, that鈥檚 what sustainability is all about,鈥 Paula says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 how can we rethink the way we do things.鈥


For the Fair鈥檚 clothing swap event, for example, Paula reused hangers from dry cleaners and borrowed rolling racks and a mannequin from the School of Fashion. She also turned a cardboard box into a ballot box and rescued a chalkboard from being disposed for engagement activities at the Fair.
鈥淲e want to educate people about 糖心vlog官网鈥檚 sustainable initiatives,鈥 Paula says. 鈥淲e also want everyone to create a collective change by modifying our day-to-day habits to have a positive environmental impact.鈥
Michelle Alexis Villarama agrees.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the little things that count,鈥 says the third-year Accounting student. 鈥淭here needs to be more events like the Sustainability Fair and more education around awareness.鈥
A self-professed 鈥渞ecycling nerd," Michelle says she often walks around the campus looking for garbage bins to segregate her waste.
However, she says she doesn鈥檛 see anyone else doing it.
鈥淎 lot of my friends don鈥檛 care about this stuff and honestly, it鈥檚 the lack of awareness,鈥 she says.
鈥淵es, it might just be one piece of paper you recycle, but if you start, your friends will start and everyone else will start. And that will make a big impact. You can influence your friends by leading by example.鈥
